Eye of the Storm
by AristaHolmes
Summary: When Martha is called to a U.N.I.T facility in Norway, what she doesn't expect is to have to call The Doctor in to help her shut down the whole corrupt branch. Speaking of the unexpected, why does she recognise the Colonel's prize captive? [Inspired by Fanart on Facebook; Can also be found on AO3]
1. Chapter 1

It was the screams that made Martha's skin crawl as the U.N.I.T department head, Colonel Brett Holston, led her through the catacombs of caged aliens.

It didn't matter that they had all been marked as dangerous by Unit's alien cataloguing system. It didn't matter that they growled or lunged at the perspex walls with teeth bared, and various extremities clawing or grasping for purchase. What mattered was the inherent wrongness she felt, the fear and desperation in the air that clung to her lungs with every breath. It was the same feeling she'd had when Shakespeare had led the Doctor and herself through Bedlam.

As she was guided further underground, and began to wonder just how deep the cages went, Colonel Holston began explaining the situation to her in more depth.

"Jones, this whole department requires the highest security clearance. The General has cleared you for access, but bringing in outside help isn't what we're usually comfortable doing, so I'm sure you'll understand that there's some area's you won't have access to". He spoke to her, but didn't turn or meet her gaze as he did so, and Martha could feel her shoulders tensing.

All she knew so far was that one of their 'contained' alien threats needed medical treatment but it wouldn't allow anyone near it. Considering her experience with the Doctor, travelling to different worlds and dealing with various types of aliens, she'd been brought into the containment branch of Unit, situated in Norway, in the hope that she would be able to convince the being to let itself be healed.

"The aliens being held here are dangerous, some more than others but the term applies to all of them in one way or another" Holston continued, and stopped suddenly before a large metal wall. She went cold when Holston turned around and Martha realised that it wasn't a wall but what could only be described as the door to a vault.

"The alien kept in here is beyond dangerous though, and the last medical officer who attempted to touch the creature burned from the inside out. Screaming."

The tall man glared down at her as though wondering what the small woman could do to combat that kind of aggression, but Martha knew that her superiors would keep her secrets from someone like this. At least, she hoped they would.

"Are you prepared?" he asked after a moment of silence and Martha met his eyes firmly.

This whole section of Unit's operation sickened her and she was already turning idea's over in her mind on ways she could change it, fix it.

"...but you're clever, you can't think this is right!"

Her words to William Shakespeare ran through her mind and she suppressed a shudder. Everything she'd seen of Unit since stepping off her plane told her that there weren't enough checks being done on this remote branch, and it needed reigning in. It was inhumane. Now wasn't the time though. She'd help this alien first, and fix the larger problem later. Talk to Mickey, call Jack and Sarah Jane...

"Yes sir, I'm ready" she answered, relieved that the Colonel hadn't picked up on her momentary pause as she'd let her thoughts spin out of control.

He simply loosed a small snort, and turned to unlock the vault. Fingerprint, optical scan, a small pinprick of blood, followed by a code, a passcard and another code, and a final voice lock. The longer the process went on, the higher Martha's eyebrows climbed, and nerves began building. What in all of time and space scared them so badly that they'd locked it under the frozen wastes of Norway? Thousands of feet underground and hidden away behind more security than the Queen.

As the door opened slowly, rolling sideways to slide into the wall, Martha realised that it was made of a thick steel like material. The sheer depth of it reminding her of the security measures that protected the Crown Jewels in the Tower of London. Her gaze moved from the additional layer of locks and stared into the large room, but despite expecting the worst, she couldn't smother her sharp shocked intake of breath.

She wasn't ready, not at all. Not prepared for what lay inside this tomb or, more importantly, who.

"Yes," Colonel Holston responded to her gasp, his hand dropping to his weapon as a precautionary measure when the alien shifted slightly at their entrance, "It's not pretty... It fought us, caused most of the injuries itself, of course," he added quickly, and the slight shift of his weight from one foot to the other told Martha that was a lie.

It's movements amazed Martha. Considering the obviously damaged state of the body, long filthy blonde hair was flicked away from it's face, and the shoulders were thrown back as the woman defiantly lifted her head and eyes to stare down the Colonel. Martha took a moment, then let her eyes run over the woman's injuries as her heart bled and fear driven adrenaline flooded her blood.

Her ankles had been shackled to the floor in the middle of the large room. Enough chain to stand and move maybe a foot in any direction, if she was lucky. From the doorway Martha could see cuts leaking blood, and dark bruising along her shins and thighs. She'd been given what looked like hospital issue pyjama shorts and shirt, but both left much of her body, and her injuries, open for appraisal.

Any injuries and bruising on her torso were hidden by the paper thin fabric, but the short sleeves revealed what looked like burns on the womans upper arms and that her hands had been secured behind her back. There was more bruising along her neck and one eye appeared to be half swollen closed, but what terrified Martha the most was that despite her condition she recognised the battered woman and felt her lips twisting into a snarl.

"Get. Out." she snapped at Colonel Holston, and felt his eyes turn on her.

"Jones, it doesn't-"

" **She** isn't going to let me near her with a gun wielding thug standing over my shoulder, now get out." Martha ordered. She could sense his reluctance, but when she glared at him Holston obediently left the room as she stepped further in and carefully placed her medical bag on the floor by her feet.

Martha waited until she heard the door to the chamber slide closed and lock before she let herself meet the steady gaze of Rose Tyler.

The Doctor was gonna go mental.

For the moment though, he wasn't Martha's priority. She took a step towards Rose, but halted almost instantly at the half feral growl the blonde let forth at the movement.

Even shackled to the floor by her ankles, hands cuffed behind her back and injured, Martha would rather be facing down a Dalek, she admitted to herself.

"Hey, it's okay... I'm gonna help you, yeah?" she offered, her voice soft and slowly she lowered herself to the floor.

Leaving her medical bag where she'd dropped it, Martha carefully eased closer to Rose. Speaking gently, and using the strength and volume of the womans growls as a measurement on when to creep closer and when to pause and wait for the blonde to acclimatise to her presence.

Martha didn't know how long it took her, but eventually she and Rose knelt opposite one another and the growling had stopped. They just knelt there for a few minutes, Martha still offering the soft comforting sound of her voice, and patiently waited for Roses' shoulders to relax.

"Sorry; can't let 'em know I know yah," Rose all but breathed and Martha had to duck her head to hide a relieved grin from the many camera's she was certain were trained on them intently.

She'd been worried the woman's mind had snapped, but she seemed as sharp as ever. Collecting her thoughts, Martha gathered herself and focussed on the 'warily aggressive alien' before her.

"What's your name?" Martha asked. There was no way Rose had told Unit who she was, but what Martha didn't understand was why Unit were even holding Rose Tyler. She was human, as far as Martha knew.

"I am the Bad Wolf," Rose answered, her features vicious and threatening, but her golden flecked eyes were gentle and strong and the hint of trust contained within them choked Martha for a moment.

"I'm Martha, and I'm going to help you... is that ok?" she asked, partially for the camera's and partially for Rose. She stretched her hand out for the battered woman, paused when Rose tensed and waited for the moment of relaxation, before placing that same outstretched hand gently on Roses' thin and barely covered shoulder.

"Is that ok?" Martha asked again as the warmth from her hand soaked into the chilled skin beneath it and Rose shivered, "Will you let me help?"

Another momentary pause before Rose nodded, but Martha was pleased to see a dash of amusement in her brown eyes at the timid and cautious performance they were both putting on.

With the blonde's permission though, Martha let herself move a little faster, simultaneously wanting and not wanting to know what had been done to her.

The cuts on her calves had been caused by a switch of some kind, wooden based on the splinters Martha removed, and the bruises on her legs looked like they'd been caused by boots kicking at her soft skin.

The cuffs on her wrists were too tight. They'd been biting into her skin just long enough to draw blood, thin trails of it leaking down over her hands and partially concealing the shattered fingernails that looked as though Rose had, at one time, attempted to dig her way out of her cage.

Martha moved onto Roses' back and hissed angrily, drowning out the blonde's own quiet whimper of pain. Lifting the fabric of her flimsy top, Martha had to peel it away from the still bloody whip marks that scarred along her spine. She was cautious to keep Rose covered from the camera's, but it made checking her ribs more difficult.

It looked like the woman might have a few fractured ribs, but a proper examination would either need Roses' hands free, which she knew Unit wouldn't allow, or a removal of the blondes only covering, and Martha wouldn't do that. The ribs would have to be fine on their own for the moment.

The bruising along Roses throat was yellow and green, she'd been strangled but not recently, and the cuts and scrapes along her arms were also older, as though they'd been caused during manhandling, before they'd known how dangerous she was. The burns she'd spotted from the entrance were from repeated use of an electric device of some kind, and Martha could feel her fury building but tamped it down for the moment.

What worried Martha the most was the swelling around Roses' eye. From the look of the surface damage, the woman was lucky she'd not had her cheekbone shattered. There'd probably been a concussion at the time, but it would have faded probably before Martha had even received the call for her services.

"I can fix this, all of it," Martha promised as she finished examining the blonde, her voice shaking a little and Rose allowed herself to nod once, knowing the woman didn't mean her injuries, at least not entirely.

Neither woman spoke as Martha treated Roses' wounds, at least nothing beyond Martha's instructions for her to stand or sit or stretch out a leg, or warn the blonde that the iodine would sting. Rose followed Martha's directives, and only occasionally released soft hisses or whimpers of pain.

Martha worked with a swift efficiency and once everything that could be treated had been, she repacked her equipment carefully with trembling fingers. She honestly couldn't have said if it was holding back her fury or her tears that made her shake.

She wanted to launch herself at the blonde, hug her close and apologise for what she'd been through, promise to help her escape, get out, run, but Martha knew she couldn't. Not yet. There was, in fact, nothing more she could say or do. Not while they were both being watched so carefully through camera's Martha knew were there but couldn't locate, so she zipped her bag closed and stood slowly, hiding her reluctance to abandon Rose by making a show of stretching out her muscles after kneeling for so long.

Even before she'd had a chance to pick up her bag though, Martha could hear the Colonel opening the room again and so forced herself to turn her back and move to leave the room. The observers on the camera's had obviously seen her packing up and send Holston down for her. Martha wanted to punch them.

"Martha Jones..." Rose called as the vault door finished opening, and Martha stepped over the divide between the cage and the tunnels. Her voice was quiet but firm and Martha hoped she still sounded like that by the time she was able to escape Unit.

Martha wasn't the only one who heard the strength in Roses voice however, and she saw Colonel Holsten draw his gun as they both turned to face the still shackled blonde.

Holston was focussed on Rose intently, his eyes locked on her every movement, and his interest in her words was almost palpable, but Rose ignored him entirely, her gaze locked with Martha.

"Thank you."

Doctor Jones couldn't stop the rush of sorrow at her words, sincerity ringing though Roses' voice, and Martha even let two tears fall before getting control of herself. She had wanted to do so much more. The woman shouldn't have needed to be thanking her.

"You're welcome".

The Colonel hit a button on the wall and the door to Roses cell slid closed. Martha could feel the mans eyes glaring at the side of her face, and waited until she heard the locks engage before turning to him.

"How did you get it to talk? It won't talk to anyone here! What's-"

Just like that Martha felt her control snap and her eyes narrowed dangerously.

"I think it helps if you don't beat your prisoners within an inch of their lives! Have a little bit of kindness, compassion, understanding... oh I don't know, maybe a smidge of humanity!" she spat at the man, hands clenching into fists around her now much lighter bag of medical supplies. What she wouldn't give for the dermal regenerator on the Tardis right now.

What she wouldn't give for the Tardis and her driver right now.

She shook her head and bit her tongue before continuing, her voice calmer, tightly controlled, but her eyes still sparked.

"Nevermind, forget it. She needs more food and water than you're supplying if you want her alive. At the moment malnourishment is likely to kill her faster than your mistreatment-"

"Mistreatment! She's killed seven unit staff in the three months she's been here!" Brett Holston all but shouted and Martha met his anger with ice cold disdain. She didn't even bother replying. He wouldn't listen, let alone understand. Instead she turned on her heel and stalked her way back through the catacombs, suddenly desperate for fresh air and the sky above her head.

She'd planned to help the trapped aliens with Mickey, Jack and Sarah Jane but now that she knew about Rose... Well, regardless of the mans distant goodbye when saving her and Mickey from a Sontaran, Martha knew that now, she needed the Doctor.


	2. Chapter 2

The phone rang and a loud crash with lots of frustrated sounding words that she didn't understand drew Amy from her morning tea in the kitchen to the console room of the Tardis.

The phone was still ringing, and the Doctor was just pulling himself out from underneath the console, rubbing his head bringing a playful grin to her features, "You alright?" she questioned, bounding up to the controls, as he nodded.

"Yeah, yeah, grab that, would you?"

Amy already had the phone in her hand and simply lifted it to her ear, cutting off the annoying ringing sound as the Doctor climbed to his feet, and began checking his repairs with the sonic screwdriver.

"Hello?"

"Uh... hi, I'm looking for the Doctor?" came the voice down the phone and Amy leant against the console, glancing at the man in question.

"He's doing... stuff... Can I take a message?" Amy asked, watching the Doctor shake the screwdriver a few times before trying the scan again.

She could hear the woman on the other end of the phone let out a sound of frustration.

"Tell him it's Martha, Martha Jones... and then tell him to get his skinny alien arse back to Earth because I've just found Rose Tyler" she growled.

Amy blinked a moment and lowered the phone to her shoulder while she waited for the Doctor to glance up. It took a moment of silence, but when his eyes met her confused ones Amy relayed the message.

"It's someone called Martha Jones, says she's found a Rose Tyler?" Amy half asked, terror clawing through her as she watched the Doctor suddenly go milk white and drop the sonic screwdriver.

"That's not possible..."

Amy offered him the phone. He just stared at it until she shook it at him, and then slowly the Doctor reached out a trembling hand, grasping the handset gingerly before pressing it to his ear.

"Martha...?"

"Doctor... You... you sound different... doesn't matter, I need your help. Can you get to Norway? There's a little B&B on the coast-"

"This... It can't be Rose..." he tried, swallowing hard against what he thought must be the knot of his bowtie pressing against his throat.

"Well it is, I've spoken to her... kind of..."

"What do you mean 'kind of'?"

"Look, just trust me... trace this call, meet me in Norway, and I'll explain everything then..." There was a beat of silence, and then she spoke again, "God, Doctor... I know you said regeneration changed every cell in your body, but this is Rose... are you just going to ignore that?" Martha asked, her shock at his seeming reluctance snapped him out of his daze, and he found himself shaking his head.

"No. Date and time?" he all but demanded, already moving around the console, tracking the call as she'd suggested and plotting the course, Amy's hands gripping the console as the Tardis moved through the vortex.

He didn't dare let his hearts hope. Besides, if Rose was back in the right universe (the original universe) then maybe his ex-doppleganger was too. Maybe they were here by mistake. Maybe she didn't want to see him. Maybe the universes were fracturing. Maybe none of it mattered and he just needed to see her one more time. Once more after that. Then again, one more stolen moment in time.

Once would never be enough.

Regenerating might change him physically, every cell in his body, but the feelings, the emotions he carried for Rose weren't physical. All regenerating had done was make the memories less bright, softer, not quite as close to the bone when the thought of losing her cut at him.

The Tardis didn't so much as stumble when she landed, barely wheezing as they materialised with a soft thump, and it was only when Amy grabbed hold of his arm as he turned to dash for the doors that he realised she'd been shouting questions at him the entire time.

"Doctor! What's going on, and who's Martha Jones?!" Amy demanded, looking confused, and a little scared. Just a touch, a dash of fear, but it stilled him and he let himself smile at her, glancing up at the corridor that lead to the rest of the Tardis, a sleepy Rory rubbing his eyes as he stumbled into the room.

"Martha Jones, she used to travel, here, with me, in the Tardis..." he saw the surprise on the redhead's features and Rory seemed confused as he came to stand beside Amy, arm resting on the girls waist, as the Doctor blundered through his explanation with a restless bounce on the balls of his feet.

"Come on, you'll get on brilliantly!" he insisted, grabbing Amy's wrist and tugging her, and by extension Rory, out of the Tardis and directly into the stiff icy gales of the North Atlantic Ocean.

"Blimey, you could have said I'd need a coat!" Amy yelped at the shock, tugging her wrist from the Doctor, and wrapping her arms around herself before snuggling into her equally shivering fiance.

"Doctor?" it was half a question, Amy was sure of it, but the woman waiting for them seemed comfortable enough in her knowledge to open her arms for a hug, and the Time Lord didn't hesitate to accept, pulling the stranger close briefly before pulling back.

"Martha-"

Amy went to drag Rory back into the Tardis for warmer clothes, leaving the the Doctor and Martha to talk, but she was surprised when the woman, ushered the Doctor back into the Tardis as well, following them inside and closing the doors firmly.

"Sorry Doctor, I don't know who might be listening".

Just like that the warm reunion turned all business and the Doctor pushed his floppy hair away from his face with a deep sigh.

"Ok... Tea, and then you tell me what's going on Martha Jones, Rose being here shouldn't be possible, she went back to the parallel world with... the other one" the Doctor explained.

"Hi, I'm Martha, he's useless at introductions this one, what's your name?" Amy blinked in surprise but smirked at the woman's assessment of the Doctor.

Rory shook her offered hand, introducing himself, and trying not to let his confusion show, "and this is-"

"I'm Amy, let me guess, when you were with him, did he talk a lot but never actually say anything?" she offered and Martha laughed. It was only then that the Doctor noticed just how tense she'd been, and it was like that momentary lapse in her control shattered the dam and Martha's laughter turned into gasps for breath as she tried to stop tears leaking down her face.

There was a long moment where the only sound was the humming of the Tardis and Martha's tearful sobs as everyone froze, but then Amy stepped forward and wrapped her in a reassuring hug, gently guiding the woman through the Tardis and into the kitchen, while the two men followed silently. Martha just rode out the emotional tidal wave to the sound of the Doctor making tea.

"There now, come on, it can't be that bad, I'm sure the Doctor can help, that's why you're here, right?" Rory suggested softly, his gentle voice full of warmth and slowly the tears calmed.

Somehow Amy had manoeuvred them both into chairs at a small table in the kitchen, and the Doctor placed a tea in front of her that Martha gratefully wrapped her hands around.

"I got... I wasn't..."

The Doctor took a seat beside Martha and gently let his hand rest on her arm, his age old eyes settled on her gently and somehow that reassured Martha that, despite his change in face, this was the Doctor and she could trust him.

"I sent us into the vortex, so there's no rush, we're in a time machine, remember?"

Martha nodded, and let her breathing slow, sipping her tea, and Amy tried not to shoot worried glances between the brunette and her raggedy man, but a few minutes later, Martha slowly started talking, her voice steady, and growing in strength, but she didn't raise her eyes to the Doctors, keeping her gaze fixed between her cooling tea and his two companions.

She was terrified of what she'd see in his eyes when he finally figured out what was going on.

"I... I wasn't going to call you... no, that's the wrong place to start..." she ran her hand through her hair in agitation and tried again.

"Okay... I don't know if you know this... but Unit has this... if we find an alien that's on earth and a threat to us we try and send it home, but if that's not possible, or if they won't co-operate, Unit have built a kind of... containment centre or holding facility? It's pitched as a place they can stay, or live, until they agree to live by the rules we've set down, or leave... Or until we can find a way to send them home, right? It's an alternative to killing them outright".

Martha needed him to understand that. She needed the Doctor to see that the centre had begun with good reasons and good intentions because when he found out what it had turned into she knew he'd want to destroy it.

"Its here, in Norway, out of the way, any accidents or escapes can be easily resolved with minimal damage for them or the humans... anyway... London got a message asking for medical assistance for one of the aliens... the patient wasn't accepting treatment, so they asked for help, and I got sent 'cause I've got a pretty good track record".

She new he'd be grinning at her, even with this new body, but Martha couldn't make herself look, running her finger along the rim of her mug to distract herself.

"It's... It's not a containment centre, it's a prison, a mad house... it was like being back in Bedlam with Shakespeare again Doctor..." she shuddered, and she felt his hand pat her gently from where it had still been resting against her arm, but now she could feel how tense his fingers were, and she took a moment to steady her breathing again.

"I was going to treat their patient, and then get together with Jack, Sarah Jane, and Mickey to fix it. It's what we all do, right? Protect the Earth, even from ourselves, no need to call you for this... but... Doctor..."

"Where's Rose fit into all this?" he asked and Martha flinched despite his soft voice.

"I don't know why she's there, she's human, right? But she's in this cell, shackled to the floor and I thought she'd gone mad at first... until I got close... and she told me she couldn't let them realise that we knew each other".

She finally managed to drag her eyes from Amy's shocked features and Rory's pained expression to the Doctor's stone still mask.

"We have to get her out, all of them really, but..."

"What have they done, Martha," the Doctor growled, his voice quiet and deceptively soft, but she knew that tone even if it came from different lips.

The Oncoming Storm was building. and she had to force herself to swallow a few times before she could answer his demand.

"She's... I treated cuts... lacerations... wh-whip marks... Might be a broken rib, she's got extensive bruising... a swollen eye... Probably concussion but it had eased before I arrived... malnourished-" Martha's voice broke with another sob at the rising anger in his eyes, but what terrified her most was that otherwise he seemed not to react at all.

She turned her brown eyes on the Scottish girl, Amy, only to see her with silent tears streaming down her soft features as well. Rory had remained almost stoically silent, but his eyes were pained at the suffering she'd described.

"My god, Doctor how do we help them?" Amy whispered, turning her eyes on the Doctor, before jerking back at the cold fury there.

"Martha... Is there anyone here in Norway you trust?" the Doctor asked quietly, drawing his warm hand back from her arm and clenching his hands into fists to stop them shaking.

Rose. His Rose.

Battered but unbroken from the sounds of it. They wouldn't get a chance to try again, he promised silently.

Martha shook her head, "No... I travelled alone, and I didn't want to make too many calls. I was pretty angry when I left and I don't know if they're watching me. It's a tunnel though Doctor, you go in and it just spirals down and down and down, with cells to the left and right, but no where to avoid guards or hide. We'd be seen the moment we walked in, and Rose is right at the bottom. The security to get in; I've never seen anything like it".

"Oh the Sonic will deal with that, you humans haven't invented deadlock seals yet" he dismissed, and Martha forced herself to study him carefully.

"It's a tactical nightmare for anyone tying to get in or out-"

"We'll manage"

"If she's hurt, how're we going to get her out?" Rory asked softly, his voice gentle but the Doctor went pale and fell silent as though the man had shouted his query.

No one answered Rory's question and a hushed quiet descended over the Tardis kitchen. The soft background hum of the timeship seemed carefully soothing as the four travellers each finished their tea in silence and only the Time Lord at the table could say how much time had passed before someone spoke.

"Officially, you still work for Unit, Doctor... It's not subtle, but maybe you could pull rank on the whole branch?" Martha suggested.

"But... if they're like really interested in aliens, wouldn't that be like having a massive bulls eye over your head?" Amy asked, continuing a moment later at the Doctor's apparent lack of concern, "and wouldn't your interest in Rose make them even more interested?"

The Doctor's whole frame tensed before he slumped in the chair and sighed a tired sounding, "yeah..."

"So, can we hide that this about about Rose?" Rory asked, "Shut down the whole branch, you said there were loads of aliens there..."

"Shut down, or reform. The idea was good in theory, just not in application," Martha agreed, her eyes narrowing in though and Amy hummed her agreement.

"Can't have them know he's the Doctor though, they'd probably still want to lock him up".

None of his companions noticed the small smile on the Doctor's features that gradually grew in size as the three humans worked together to rescue the one soul in the multiverse that could complete him, and when he found himself beaming with suspiciously wet eyes he clapped his hands together and leap to his feet, his burst of energy knocking his chair backwards loudly, and startling his companions, both past and present, into silence.

Three sets of questioning eyes settled on him, his frame all but vibrating with energy.

"Okay! That's enough wallowing in what we can't do, let's go and see what we can do!" he announced before spinning on his heel and heading for the console room, chuckling softly as his friends scrambled to follow him.


	3. Chapter 3

Martha's hands were shaking twelve hours later as she let herself back into Unit's Norwegian holding facility, Amy, Rory and the Doctor at her back like some really odd looking body guards.

The Doctor had wanted to use the Tardis to come back only a few hours later, all the quicker to retrieve Rose, but by waiting they avoided Colonel Holston. The shift rota showed that he would be out of the building. They had eventually agreed that the Colonel was the largest obstacle and if they could avoid him entirely then their plans had a much greater chance of being implemented smoothly.

That didn't help Martha's nerves though and she took an indulgent moment to wipe her sweaty palms down the thighs of her trousers.

"Officer Jones?!" a young man almost stuttered as he spotted her and Martha advanced on the security desk, "The Colonel's not here, I'll call him-"

"That's not necessary," Martha cut in, voice gentle but firm and the rookie just looked confused as she pulled out a neatly folded letter, "As of yesterday evening I have been granted the powers and authority of Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart and permission to, in his absence, launch a full and authorised inspection of this facility". She handed over her proof to the now terrified looking young man.

"You'll note that any decisions I make at the conclusion of this inspection are final and fully endorsed by the Brigadier?" she only half asked, but the young officer was already nodding so she continued, finally beginning to slow her racing heart.

"Nothing regarding the running of this facility should be changed from normal during my inspection, so if the Colonel isn't here, then there is no need to call him, alright?"

The almost palpable relief on the officer's features didn't truly surprise her after meeting Holston the day before but at the same time she was surprised his disregard for the man was so obvious and Martha let her tone lighten in an attempt to reassure him.

"What's your name?"

"Officer Vance, M'am, Luke Vance"

"Tell you what, Luke," Martha offered gently, "You've seen my authorisation, so you know I've got the clearance to be here and I've also got the upper management override for any door I need to see behind. No need to escort me around, you just stay here and keep doing your job, just like any other day, alright?"

Luke grinned and his whole stance relaxed, "Yes, M'am!" he agreed swiftly, and returned to his seat, turning bright blue eyes on the screens for the security camera's, "Consider yourself and your friends unescorted".

"Thank you Officer Vance," Martha said with a smile and turned to leave just as the Doctor cut in, his tone tense.

"What. Is. That?" he demanded, voice quiet and tightly controlled as he pointed at one of the security feeds, the image displayed twisting Officer Vance's features into a mixture of shame, disgust and horror.

"That's a new favourite 'game' for some of the officers, Sir. I've tried to put a stop to it, but Colonel Holston reckons it's a good way for the men to work off some steam so-"

"Game." The Doctor all but growled the word, eyes transfixed to the screen and Martha felt her stomach turn and nausea rise in her throat.

"The call it 'Prodding the Wolf'", Officer Vance continued, his voice quiet as though sensing that the wrong word might snap the Doctor's control, "Seem to think it's incredibly clever..."

The mans explanation became white noise as Martha, Amy and Rory watched the Doctor watch the screen, where a group of four men with cattle prods were shocking a still chained Rose Tyler until she lunged at them snarling.

"We start there" the Doctor ordered, voice dark and Martha nodded.

"Absolutely".

Rose's mind was all but numb to the pain now and yet the nerves in her body still reacted to the electrical current being delivered by the cattle prods, despite her brains demands that she not give them the satisfaction.

She lunged for the nearest man, a snarl on her lips and hands scraping at his uniform with her nails just as he stepped out of her reach, laughing. They'd unchained her hands for their game and Rose knew that if she could just snag hold of one of them, all the combat training she'd gotten from Torchwood would abandon her and she'd end up embracing her namesake and tearing out their throat with her teeth like a rabid wolf.

The pain, while not extreme, had been frequent brief blasts for what she guessed was nearly an hour now and exhaustion was beginning to creep in, making her sluggish and slow. Her vision was narrowing with each burst of pain and the most recent blast had dropped her to her knees with a frustrated growl when the metallic clanging of her cell opening began, and the four officers silenced their rawkus laughter slowly as they moved away from her almost simultaneously.

If she'd been capable of doing anything other than dragging in deep lungfuls of air, she'd have shouted thanks to whoever had interrupted. With that thought though, her shoulders tensed. The only other person who came to see her was the Colonel and that wasn't the kind of reprieve she'd been praying for.

Rose was so convinced that her day was about to get a hundred times worse that it took her a moment to recognise Martha, and then another moment or two to stop the hope igniting in her chest, her starved body trembling lightly at the strain it had so recently been under.

She was vaguely aware that Martha was issuing orders, demanding information and answers from the men and telling the red head with her to take down their names and other information before dismissing them. The sandy haired young man hovered by the red head's elbow, glaring daggers at the officers, and seemed to be ready to deck them if they made any fast movements.

Rose only had enough energy left to focus on one thing though, the other man with Martha who caught her attention and then held it.

Floppy brown hair and long fingers, wearing tweed and suspenders with a deep blue bowtie and matching trousers and making a direct beeline for her trembling form, with age old sea green eyes that her gut recognised instantly. When he slowed, crouching before her cautiously, and swallowed hard, Rose let her exhausted features erupt into a blinding grin.

"Doctor..." she breathe softly and he froze with surprise colouring his eyes as he blinked at her.

"I regenerated, how did you-?" His voice cracked and he fell silent when Rose let her arms fall around his shoulders, and her head wearily drop to rest against his collarbone in an exhausted hug, her body and mind surrendering to the protection and security his presence wrapped her up in.

"My Doctor, I'd know you anywhere," she promised and pointedly ignored the slight hitch in his breath.

Slowly, wary of doing any more damage to her fragile frame, the Doctor let one arm curl around her in a light hug while his free hand fumbled for the sonic screwdriver, aiming it at the shackles for a moment before letting loose a soft sound of frustration.

"Deadlocked," Rose muttered, exhaustion slurring her words and the Doctor grunted an agreement, glaring at the stolen technology before changing the setting on the sonic and and aiming at her ankles again.

He let a small smirk settle on his lips in satisfaction as the chains attaching to the deadlocked shackles gained a fine layer of frost while the Doctor sent their temperature plummeting rapidly. With a sharp tap from the screwdriver, the chains simply shattered. The shackles still attached to her ankles would have to wait until he got her back to the Tardis, but at least now he could get her back.

"Rose?" Martha's voice forced the blonde to drag her head away from the Doctor and she shot the woman a beaming smile.

"Martha Jones, you are my new best friend," she told Martha softly and pulled a laugh from her.

"The Doctor, Amy and Rory are going to get you out of here and I'm going to clean up this mess, alright?"

Rose frowned, mind struggling to remember what she needed to tell the other woman through her fog of fatigue.

"You can't, not alone," Rose muttered but Martha ignored her.

"It'll be fine Rose, everything's already underway-"

"No, listen to her," Rory's voice cut in gently, his eyes on the desperation flickering over the blondes features and he slowly stepped between Martha and Rose to kneel beside her and lean in to listen to the warnings the woman was still muttering.

"-Been tried before, Holston will kill you if you try and force him out, take over, control it. He'll get you away from here, make it look like an accident, wouldn't be the first time..."

Rory's gentle hand on her shoulder drew Roses' gaze, and she shook her head as if to clear her vision.

"Hide me somewhere, you'll need the Doctor, Holston's insane; Killed investigations before now," Rose drawled, missing the worried glance the Doctor and Martha exchanged as Rose spoke to the blonde man with kind eyes.

"We'll get you to medical," the Doctor said after a moment, "There must be a med bay around here somewhere and you need treatment, Amy, Rory, can you help her while I back up Martha?" he asked, but Amy was already nodding, and Rory hadn't taken taken his reassuring gaze from Rose, but nodded his agreement as well.

If there was more discussion or planning Rose wasn't aware of it, her head returning to the Doctor's shoulder, letting her eyes drift closed until he gently lifted Rose to her feet, placing each of her arms around the shoulders of his companions and letting Amy and Rory all but carry her through the tunnels.

The very instant she felt her body hit the firm but comfortable medical mattress, Roses' mind decided she was with friends and could relax enough to disengage from reality and plunge her into a deep restorative sleep.

The Doctor hadn't known fury like the kind ravaging his body right now since his ninth body had raged at a Dalek in a bunker somewhere in the United States. It was a brush of fire in his blood, a spark licking at the kindling...

'I'd know you anywhere' - pain, exhaustion, trust, surrender.

The flame catching, spreading, igniting...

'Holston's killed investigations before' - fear, worry, hate.

Blazing hotter and rising higher as the fire took hold...

'Martha Jones, you're my new best friend' - hope, joy, relief.

His fury was a roaring inferno by the time he and Martha made their way out of the catacombs and into the brightly lit and exceedingly comfortable above ground building reserved for the Unit staff, while their prisoners were confined to rotting below them, in the dark.

He and Martha approached Luke Vance at the security desk side by side, but with a quick step or two Martha reached the intercom system a moment before him and took hold of the microphone that Officer Vance was already holding out to her, despite the Doctor's glare.

"Holding Facility staff are to report to the Mess Hall in ten minutes. I repeat, all staff to the Mess Hall in ten minutes for a spot inspection," Martha spoke clearly, her voice crisp and firm as he turned off the intercom.

"Doctor Jones..." Officer Vance hissed softly, a warning note to his voice as he drew Martha's attention, and by extension the Doctor's, to Colonel Holston marching through the doors of the facility.

"Thanks Luke," Martha murmured, offering a reassuring pat to the young man's shoulder, "Why don't you head to the mess hall and try to get people seated before we arrive..." she offered and the young man sprang to his feet, unable to hide his look of relief and gratitude as he fled the area.

The Colonel was red faced with anger, hands clenched into shaking fists as he approached Martha but the Doctor stepped into his path with a cruel sneer, blocking the Colonel's direct view of Martha.

"Get out of my way!" the man thundered his order at the Doctor, eyes fixed on Martha, but the Doctor put his hands in his pockets and raised his eyebrows before responding with a simple, "No".

Shocked out of his rampage the man reeled back a step as though he'd been struck and moved his eyes to the Doctor's features before fury overtook him again , but this time aimed at the Doctor.

" **What**?!"

"I said, No"

"You'll get out of my way or I'll damn well make you!" the Colonel bellowed and the Doctor sneered, eyes darkening and a Dalek would have invoked it's emergency temporal shift but this stupid ape didn't have enough brains, or even a basic level of survival instinct, to perceive the level of danger he was currently facing off against.

"No. It's a negative response. An adverb used to express dissent, denial or refusal. A symbol of non compliance."

The Doctor had seen the punch coming, had even been waiting for it and met the fist with the palm of his hand, muscles meant for strength and fighting, muscles he made a point of not using flexed and forced the Colonel back a step, startling him out of incoherent rage.

"Who are you?"

"I'm the Doctor," he said softly, hands loose at his sides now, shoulders back and braced with his chin lifted slightly in brazen defiance, "and you didn't just hurt someone I care you, you tortured them!" he added, snarling and enjoying, just for a moment, the way the Colonel's face paled to a sickening grey.

"The Doctor... **The** Doctor...?" he asked weakly, all but flinching when the man in question growled.

"Which alien... uh... person...? I can let you take them with you, in exchange for your silence, of course-"

Martha had just been leaning against the security desk, with one of the CCTV cameras trained on Holston, letting the man dig his own grave, but even she tensed as he hit bedrock and kept going.

"She. Bad Wolf. Rose Tyler." the Doctor snarled, his voice rising, "The fact that you torture so many that you didn't even know who I was referring to maks me, quite frankly, sick to my stomach, and I consider myself to have a particularly strong stomach, you kind of have to after over 900 years of time and space, but as for **letting** me take Rose in exchange for anything, something tells me that you're still under the illusion, or is that delusion, that you're the one in charge here.

You see Martha here? Martha's brilliant, a right genius. Had to be of course, I only travel with the best. Martha saw what was happening here and was rightly sickened, so after a phone call and some catching up over tea Martha and me went to visit an old friend of mine, a very old friend-"

"Who?" the Colonel demanded, but the Doctor ignored him.

"-When we'd explained everything to my very old friend, he made a few phone calls of his own, and now Martha here, brilliant fantastic Martha, has the command powers of a Brigadier and you, Sir, are out of time, a job and any chances you had of walking away unscathed".

As he'd ranted the Doctor hadn't moved, his frame practically vibrating with energy but he'd simply held Holston's gaze with fiery eyes and spoken.

He'd not raised his voice, or shouted, and yet the undiluted venom and disgust conveyed through his tone had the Colonel shivering silently.

Martha saw his eyes dart to the door and took a step forward, slowly moving to stand beside the Doctor.

"There's nowhere to run, Brett, Unit already have officers at every airport, border crossing and seaport in Norway. You'll have your rank stripped and be court marshalled for this... Now come quietly and don't make this any worse for yourself than it already is..." she said, pausing a moment before taking another single cautious step towards the man, "It's over".

"Doctor!" Amy's panicked voice made him turn, and she appeared at the entrance to the catacombs breathless from running, "It's Rose, something's wrong, she's... she's glowing!" Amy gasped and the Doctor's flaming fury spluttered and went out and cold fear raced after it.

The chilling sound of two guns cocking made him turn back, only to find Holston's weapon all but pressed to his skull, and Martha's aimed at the Colonel. His mind, previously organised with crystal clarity now felt full of fog as he watched the scene play out.

"Drop the gun, Holston,," Martha growled slowly, but the mans eyes never flickered from the Doctor's. The two men stared at each other, judging, calculating, testing.

Whatever the Colonel saw though made him back down, despite the burning desire to destroy that the Doctor could see in the mans manic face, and he dropped the gun. The Doctor only waited long enough to make sure Martha had handcuffed and secured the Colonel before spinning and running back into the catacombs, Amy close on his heels.

It would be just his luck, he thought darkly, to lose Rose so soon after finding her once more.


	4. Chapter 4

Once Rory and Amy had deposited Rose on one of the medical beds, she swiftly sank into unconsciousness, and Rory had Amy lay a warm blanket over the woman's thin frame. She'd been starved, and there was no way her body would be able to retain the heat she needed just yet. As Amy wrapped the blondes sleeping form in warmth, Rory moved through the medical supplies and dug out some IV bags of fluid and nutrients that he recognised that would help to keep Rose stable while she slept and until the Doctor could treat her with the futuristic medical bay in the Tardis.

"How is she still...?" Amy's question was halted by a choked half sob as she started crying while watching the abused body before her.

"I don't know," Rory answered gently. He finished connecting the IV before he moved to stand beside Amy, letting his arms curl around her and gently pulling her into a comforting embrace.

He couldn't even imagine what the Doctor was feeling, if Rory had found Amy in the condition Rose was in... He shuddered and pressed his face into Amy's beautiful red hair as she let her own arms slip around his waist, returning the comfort his embrace had been offering.

Rory knew they should be guarding the door, making sure they weren't found, but couldn't bring himself to pull away from Amy. Minutes slipped by as they waited for the Doctor, their light breathing the only sound until Amy suddenly gasped and lifted her head from Rory's shoulder.

"Amy? What's- Oh my god!"

Stepping back to make sure his fiancee was alright, it was impossible to miss what had made her gasp. Eyes wide and frozen in place with surprise, Rory watched as a wisp of glimmering yellow smoke seemed to shimmer over Roses body before sinking into her skin, and leaving a light shimmer behind, like a sparse layer of gold dust that was barely discernable.

Rory moved towards her, his medical training taking over as he checked her pulse. Nothing. He checked her breathing, and again found nothing and began panicking.

"Amy, go and get the Doctor, quickly!" His worried eyes met hers for a moment before she nodded and ran. He didn't know what to do to help the blonde, he didn't even understand what the golden glow might have been, but regardless he began CPR in a futile attempt to restart the woman's heart, to bring breath into her body until the Doctor could arrive and fix it.

It felt like years before the Doctor crashed through the doors, Amy on his heels and Rory stepped back from Rose as the Doctor launched himself across the room, hands moving over her frame and checking for signs of life in the same way Rory had.

"I'm sorry, Doctor, there's... there's nothing... No heartbeat..."

The Time Lords eyes were scanning over her body almost frantically, but Rory's apologies dried up in his throat when the man seemed to collapse over the blonde, pressing his cheek against Roses deathly still chest.

The Doctor watched Amy wrap Rory in a hug, tears on both their faces as they waited for him to say something, anything. He waited ten seconds, and then froze, not daring to take another breath until he was sure. Ten seconds later, he gasped and jerked back from Rose to stare down at her, fumbling for the Sonic Screwdriver to scan over her still form, before a manic grin overtook his features.

"What? What's going on?" Amy asked him, both of them surprised at his reaction to the woman's apparent death, and he turned green eyes to them, glittering with tears.

"She's not dead! We need to get her back to the Tardis!" he announced, and Rory was frowning in confusion, even as Amy shot him a look full of sympathy. Why did his companions never listen to him?

"Doctor... There's no pulse, she's not breathing..."

"That's because, Mr Pond, Rose has managed to slip herself into a Gallifreyan Healing Coma, no idea how she's managed that of course, but I'll consider it a good thing until proven otherwise," he explained, the bubbling excitement in his voice couldn't be contained, "Her heart rate is down to one beat every ten seconds, but she'll wake up faster if she's inside the Tardis, the old girl can help her stabilise."

The Doctor glanced around the room before picking up what looked like a lab coat and carefully pulling Roses limp arms through the sleeves, covering the paper thin pyjamas with the slightly thicker coat and wrapping one arm around her shoulders, tenderly tucking the small woman against his body. Carefully he let his other arm slip beneath her knees and gently lifted her from the bed.

Her skin glowed with golden energy and Amy gasped, "That... that's what happened when I came to get you!" the girl spluttered, and the Doctor's brows drew together as he gazed down at the blonde human in his arms.

"Is that part of the healing coma thing, Doctor?" Rory asked, and the Doctor raised his now frowning features to the nurse and shook his head.

"No"

Neither Amy nor Rory asked him anymore questions as he turned and moved through the catacombs. With Rose in his arms he could feel how thin she was, how light. The torture she'd endured relit his anger now that she seemed to be out of direct danger, and the further up towards the surface he moved with his most precious cargo curled in his arms, the darker his face became.

Anger flooded him, but despite the growls he shot at every Unit officer he passed, his arms continued to cradle Rose against him like she was the most fragile piece of Elluvian crystal this side of the Medusa Cascade, and no one tried to stop him leaving.

He'd not parked the Tardis far from the Unit facility, but he couldn't help but feel he should have moved it closer. While Rose didn't shiver, he could feel her skin rapidly cooling. The beautiful Timeship opened her doors for him as soon as he was within sight of her and he sent a mental wave of gratitude towards her.

"Close the doors," he called over his shoulder at his two companions, and he realised it was the only words he'd spoken since lifting Rose into his arms.

"Infirmary please, dear one," he murmured to his ship, and found the room he'd requested through the first doorway past the console room, moving swiftly to place Rose gently onto the soft bed the Tardis had provided.

The Doctor took a moment to stroke her filthy blonde hair away from her face, slackened by unconsciousness, before Rory's voice drew his attention to the doorway of the infirmary.

"Can we help?" the young man asked and the Doctor offered a small smile before nodding.

"Yes, the more we can heal from here, the less work her body has to do, so..." he paused to glance round the room before coming to a decision, "Amy, you know how to work the dermal regenerator, so use that to heal up any surface injuries, Rory if you can connect these two machines, and fit a IV line, I'll run some scans and see what else we can do to help her recover," he told them, and all three started moving fluidly around the Tardis infirmary like they'd done so a thousand times.

The three of them spent just over half an hour healing what they could, but eventually the Doctor had said that the rest was up to the small blonde, and asked the two of them to head back to Unit and make sure that Martha had everything under control, with a warning to be careful. The Doctor didn't trust that the Colonel's men were just going to lay down arms and surrender.

He waited, perched on a stool beside Roses bed, until the Tardis told him that Amy and Rory had left, and then the Time Lord was a blur of motion again, drawing a small sample of blood and taking a saliva swab from the unconscious woman. A single strand of her hair was also plucked from her gently and added to his collection before he began placing the samples on slides and into vials.

The occasional sweeps of golden energy that crept across her body, in a slow wave from her head to her ankles before dissipating, was worrying him, and he still didn't understand how the very human Rose Tyler had put herself into a Gallifreyan healing coma. It should have been impossible. Beyond impossible, but then so was that fact that she was there at all. She'd been on the other side of the void, with his ex-doppleganger, living a happy human life with a mortgage and a job and kids and-

He forced his thoughts to stop; There was no use speculating, he decided, focussing on placing the samples he'd taken into some of the Tardis' machines, and setting them cooking.

He might not be able to question Rose right now, but with any luck the Tardis would be able to give him at least some answers to the multitude of questions buzzing around his brain.

He settled himself onto a chair beside the comatose blonde with a soft sigh, and let his fingers tangle with her unresponsive hand while he waited for the Tardis, or Rose, to start making sense.

The first thing to come back to Rose was the sensation of warmth and safety and with the reassuring hum of the Tardis in the back of her mind, the Bad Wolf allowed sleep to reclaim her once more.

The second time she drifted close to consciousness, Rose could smell honey sweetened tea, the futuristic disinfectant used in the Tardis Infirmary, and the hot scent of lightning that she had always associated with her Time Lord. She forced herself to stay aware for longer this time, but couldn't quite fight her way free of the all encompassing darkness.

"Doctor, it's been almost a week, she's not moved, only you can see her breathing... I mean, are you sure... sure she's not-"

"She's not dead, Amy, it's an extreme version of the whole 'play dead' thing you humans are so fond of," the Time Lord seemed to reassure the woman, his voice quiet but firm and determined, only a small tinge of frustration suggested that it wasn't the first time he'd had this conversation.

Their voices were distant and almost muffled but Rose could read the emotions in the Doctor's tone as easily as if she'd been staring at his face.

"I just... don't want you to get your hopes up for no reason, Doctor... Right? Just be careful, yeah?"

Rose didn't know if she slipped back into unconsciousness, or if the Doctor simply refused to answer.

The third time she rose from the dark oblivion, she felt herself take a deep breath. The pillow beneath her head was soft, and the covers laying across her body were fluffy and warm and she could feel the Doctor's fingers tangled with her own, the firm weight of his head resting on the mattress beside her hip. His steady puffs of breath ghosting across their linked hands.

Rose made herself concentrate, and after a long moment where nothing happened, she was able to force her fingers to move, twitch and tighten her grip around the Time Lords hand, feeling him jerk up from the bed in what she could only guess was surprise.

"Rose?"

The slight slur his voice put on her name told her that he'd not just been laying on the bed, but had fallen asleep there, pressed against her side, hands linked together and she felt her lips twitch into the shadow of a smile and made herself squeeze his hand a second time in response to his soft query.

"Oh, Rose..." The relief in his voice this time all but broke her heart, and if she hadn't been so exhausted she might have started crying when the warm soft lips pressed gently to her forehead.

"Don't push, don't force yourself to wake too soon, I'll still be here when you wake, my precious girl," he whispered, and with his promise ringing in her mind Rose once again surrendered to the tug of sleep, and sank into the darkness all over again.

Rose forced her eyes open despite still feeling tired and the Doctor beamed down at her, drawing out her smile.

"Hello," she croaked, throat sore from disuse.

"Hi there," he answered softly, holding a cup of water with a straw to her lips and letting her have a few sips before setting it aside and refocusing his attention on her.

"How long...?"

"You've been out for twelve days... I didn't expect you to wake up for a couple more days, actually, but you surprised me. You keep doing that, Rose Tyler," the Doctor teased gently, feeling warmth spread through his chest at the tongue touched grin she offered him before trying to lift herself into a sitting position.

"Careful," the Doctor warned, arms sliding around her swiftly to help her sit up, "You were weak before you slipped into a coma, and since then we've only been able to give you basic nutrients and fluids through the IV so it'll be a few more months before you'll be strong enough to run for your life again".

Rose made a soft sound of complaint, but seemed to reluctantly accept that there would be no quick fix for the results of the torture she'd endured.

"What I would like to find out, Rose Tyler, is how you're a genetic match to Gallifreyan biology when the last time I checked you were 100% human," the Doctor asked her gently. Any chance that she might not know the answer to his question vanished when Rose ducked her head for a moment seeming to brace herself before raising her eyes to meet with his.

"I wanted to find and tell you, not have you discover it like this," she rasped, "I hope you believe that at least..." Her throat was still dry and the Doctor passed the small plastic cup and straw back to her.

"Small sips," he instructed gently, and Rose nodded.

"The short answer is Bad Wolf," Rose continued, and the Doctor released a breath as though he'd already guessed and he ran his hands over his face wearily at her confirmation.

"On the beach, with your duplicate... John Noble he called himself... you weren't willing to accept me as human, when you thought I'd die I wasn't worth the pain to you, so I chose him," Rose explained and forced herself to ignore the agony blooming in the Doctors now sea green eyes at her words.

"That wasn't-"

"I knew he and I could have a happy life together, he knew I might die before him, even with both of us having normal human lives, and he was willing to risk the pain anyway... He deserved some happiness Doctor, the same way you did... do... the only difference between you was that I knew I could have that life with him, give him that happiness for the rest of his life, and then come and find you after he died," Rose explained softly, "I couldn't do that the other way round."

The Doctor stared at her as though someone had slapped him. Shock, pain, fear and what Rose hoped was a dash of love radiating out from those ancient eyes and the moment seemed to last hours before the Doctor finally drew in a slow unsteady breath.

"So you spent his forever together, the single thing I couldn't make myself give you," he all but gasped, tears choking his voice and Rose lifted a thin hand, trembling from muscle fatigue, to his face and brushed aside a single tear as she nodded.

"Yes".

"Then you just... hopped dimensions to find me?" he asked, voice weak and feeling completely helpless in the face of her devotion and the understanding smile that graced her face as she nodded again.

"Yes".

Rose swallowed another sip of water before setting the cup aside, her arm fully shaking now from the exertion of keeping it raised to the Doctor's face, but he didn't seem to notice, his attention held entirely by her words and her eyes and her smile.

"There's no way to cross the void from this side, but there is from that side; Parallel universe and all that," she offered as explanation and loosed a single sad tear at the Doctor's whispered response, the pure confusion tearing her heart asunder.

"But... why?"

"I love you, Doctor," she told him simply, her voice firm, as though those four words explained everything and, the Doctor thought to himself, for her they probably did.

There was a single moment of peaceful silence before the Doctor's lips brushed warmly against Roses and she released a soft sound of contentment when he moved back, his forehead pressed against hers, and giving them just enough space so that he could whisper his response against her skin.

"Rose Tyler, I love you".


End file.
